1. Field of the Invention
In one aspect this invention relates to a reactive armor system useful with armored vehicles. In yet a further aspect, this invention relates to a reactive armor system with an improved defeating mechanism used in the armor to defeat an antiarmor round during incursion.
2. Prior Art
In order to survive, combat vehicles have traditionally employed heavy metallic armor. Such combat vehicles have faced the prospect of increasingly lethal and sophisticated threats. In response it was conventional to provide ever increasing thicker and stronger armor to protect against the ever improving rounds. However, with solid armor increasing protection always has the associated problem of increasing weight. The invention of new types of antiarmor rounds with shaped charges or high density, tough material penetrators, has made the weight gain caused by providing thick enough solid armor prohibitive. In fact some of the modern charges are so efficient that a passive armor is not practical.
To counter act the shaped charges and improved penetrators, a new means of protection was necessary. The solution was to develop a reactive armor which reacts to the threat and disrupts the penetrating threat when it encounters the armor.
Reactive armor provides a solution and an efficient means of protection from modern rounds. Reactive armor is particularly effective considering the degree of protection offered as a function of armor weight.
One example of an armor construction designed to disrupt the thorn of a shaped charge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,660. This patent discloses an armor structure with an inner and outer wrapper surrounding an explosive core. When a shaped charge strikes the armor, the explosive charge will cause the wrapper layers to move away from each other in such a manner that additional wrapper material is brought into engagement with the penetrating thorn. The dense wrapper material continuously contacting the thorn, degrades the thorn and protects the underlying armor.
The reactive armor concept has been further refined by mounting the reactive armor above the base armor to provide better protection. Examples of mounting systems for holding reactive panels in a spaced relationship to underlying armor are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,077 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,244. U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,077 discloses an explosive package with explosive material layered between resilient layers of material and further enclosed within the armor material. The package is then mounted on projections attached to the armor so the reactive armor packages are maintained spaced apart from the base armor.
A second mounting structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,244 where cover members are attached to the surface to be protected with the reactive panels and a reactive panel is mounted on the interior of the cover which holds the reactive panel at a distance from the base armor.
A third reactive armor structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,448. This patent discloses a structure with metal sheets as the outer layer of a reactive armor structure the core being an incompressible material which causes the outer layers to push outwardly away from each other when hit by an explosive charge.
Although the above description and patents focus on the thorn formed by shaped charge rounds and penetrators, all of the reactive armor plates function by the explosive material causing the metallic outer plates to separate away from each other, the same action will cause the plates to separate when the armor is struck by a solid penetrator. The penetrator will normally strike the armor obliquely and the separation of the plates due to the deformation caused by the explosive will cause the separating plates to strike the penetrator's sides and break up the penetrator; the resulting penetrator fragments are trapped in the conventional armor located behind the reactive plate.
However, modern penetrators are being made of very dense and tough materials requiring over increasing amounts of energy to break up the penetrators. Further the modern penetrators have a relative high length to diameter ratio which further compounds the problem. As the amount of energy required to defeat the threat increases, the amount of reactive energy required in the plates is increased. As a result, the plates themselves become hazardous to persons near by. In fact the greater energy plates can fragment and portions of the plate fly considerable distances from the vehicle when activated. Since infantry personnel are normally close to the armored vehicles for protection, there is greater hazard to them from the better armor.
A second problem with conventional reactive armor is its increasing effectiveness the closer the penetration angle approaches orthogonality. At a ninety degree incursion, conventional reactive armor causes little or no penetrator dislocation. Yet a further problem with conventional armor is that it is often dependent on the ability of the metal in the reactive structure to deform under the force of an explosion caused by penetrator impact. This means ceramics and other nonductile materials are not useful in such reactive armor structures.
The present invention is designed to ameliorate the danger and the problems of the prior art structures. Further the present invention provides a structure which allows the use of nonductile materials as part of the reactive armor sandwich. It is also an object of this invention to provide a reactive armor structure which is highly effective against orthogonally incident penetrators.